Digital Media

Amazon's tablet to launch in August?

It appears Amazon will have its much-anticipated tablet on the market to challenge Apple before the end of the year.

Taiwan-based component makers say the online retailer will launch a tablet PC as early as August, with global sales for 2011 pegged at 4 million units, according to a report from tech site DigiTimes. With monthly orders expected to hit 700,000 to 800,000 units a month, the tablet's launch is timed to take advantage of the pre-Thanksgiving shopping rush, DigiTimes' sources pointed out.

Taiwan-based Quanta Computer has reportedly already received orders from Amazon to build the retail

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This Day in Tech: LulzSec suspect named; more iPhone 5 rumors

Too busy to keep up with the tech news? Here are some of the more interesting stories from CNET for Tuesday, June 21.

Analyst: Apple's iCloud could see 150 million users
More than 75 percent of iPhone users intend to use Apple's iCloud service, says a new survey conducted by RBC Capital Markets, which believes the number of iCloud users could reach 150 million. More

FCC outs new Apple AirPort Extreme
The Federal Communications Commission posts its test report on a new AirPort Extreme Base Station, Apple's wireless hardware. More

Drawings show big changes for iPhone 5more

Reports: Hulu mulls sale after receiving buyout offer

Hulu apparently has a suitor and the video portal is considering whether to sell, according to reports from CNBC and The Wall Street Journal.

CNBC added that whoever the prospective buyer is, it isn't Google.

The LA Times, meanwhile, says that Yahoo has approached Hulu about a possible acquisition. It also reports that Hulu's board of directors has not met to consider any offers.

Originally founded by News Corp. and NBC Universal, Hulu later saw Disney become a partner. The service streams TV shows and movies over the Internet.

Hulu was an instant hit when it launched in more

Sony's music comeback story needs third act

Sony's quest to return to a position of power in the music sector already faced plenty of obstacles.

A reputation for writing flawed software was one. Another was the company's history of creating failed consumer-focused media services that appeared more concerned with satisfying honchos at the company's film studio and record label. The company's hardware and software makers struggled to build devices and services that allayed security concerns held by content creators. Sony Connect, the so-called iTunes killer that bubbled up out of the chaos, was a glitch-prone and DRM-laden fiasco that launched to great fan more

Analyst: Apple's iCloud could see 150 million users

Apple could sign up as many as 150 million iPhone users to its new iCloud service, according to projections based on a survey from RBC Capital Markets.

In a report released today, RBC found that 76 percent of the 1,500 iPhone users polled from June 7 to 14 intend to use the iCloud service. Unveiled at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference earlier this month, iCloud will allow iOS device users to store, access, and sync their iTunes content online.

iMessage also should be a hot item, according to RBC. The survey found 73 percent of iPhone users plan to

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New Facebook app designed to thwart hackers

Facebook users can lean on a new app to help them fight spam and malware.

Designed by a team of students at the University of California at Riverside, MyPageKeeper is a free Facebook app that continually monitors wall posts and news feeds for malicious content. If the app suspects that any content may contain spam or malware, it alerts you and gives you the ability to remove it.

Beyond protecting your own Facebook account, it can also protect the accounts of friends who may get infected by viruses or hit by spam just by viewing your page.

The app was

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Mobile app use outpacing Web browsing, report says

People are spending more time each day using mobile apps than browsing the Web, according to a new report from research firm Flurry.

Looking at data compiled over the past year, Flurry discovered that the average user spends about 81 minutes a day using mobile apps, compared with 74 minutes spent surfing the Web both on PCs and mobile devices.

In December and June 2010, Flurry found Web browsing still took up more minutes per day than did mobile app use.

The amount of time spent using mobile apps has jumped 91 percent over a year ago, which Flurry attributed

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Bing grabs market share from Google over past year

Though Google remains firmly on top of the search engine market, it's shed market share to Microsoft over the past year, according to data released last week by research firm Compete.

Looking at the overall search engine market from May 2010 to May 2011, Compete found that Google has lost close to 16 percent of its share, dropping to 63.6 percent from 73.9 percent. At the same time, Microsoft grew its share by 75 percent, jumping to 17 percent from 9.7 percent.

The other three search engines tracked--Yahoo, Ask, and AOL--grew only slighty over the past more

Microsoft launching Office 365 on June 28

Microsoft will officially launch Office 365 on June 28 at an event in New York City.

Hosted by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, the event will start at 10 a.m. local time (7 a.m. PT) and be available via a live Webcast.

Announced in October, Office 365 is Microsoft's effort to offer business customers a cloud-based alternative to its traditional desktop and server products. Office 365 unites Microsoft's Office Web Apps with hosted versions of Exchange and SharePoint along with Lync, which kicks in the online communication and collaboration piece.

Microsoft's announcement of the launch event

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